Republicans Determined to Pass AHCA, But Hurdles Grow

Michigan Representative Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph), a respected moderate Republican lawmaker came out against the latest iteration of the GOP American Health Care Act (AHCA), throwing another hurdle in the way of Paul Ryan's all out push to get the measure passed. Upton said the AHCA in its latest iteration would undermine insurance protections the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the current law, gives people with pre-existing illnesses, a view disputed by supporters of the legislation.

The Detroit Free Press writes,

"Under Obama’s 2010 law, insurers may not charge seriously ill customers higher premiums than healthy ones. The latest revised GOP bill bars insurers from limiting access to coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. But states can obtain federal waivers letting insurers raise premiums on people with pre-existing illnesses, though only if the customer has let their coverage lapse during the previous year. The state must also have a high-risk pool or another mechanism to help such people afford a policy. Supporters of the GOP legislation say it protects people with pre-existing conditions and that the exclusion would affect only a small proportion of them. Opponents say it diminishes their protections by letting insurers charge unaffordable prices. They also say high-risk pools have a mixed record of effectiveness, often because the government money provided to finance them proves inadequate."

Speaker Ryan and other GOP House leaders are working with reluctant members to try pushing the AHCA measure through before the end of this week.

For 4th CD voters, Rep Dan Newhouse may be contacted via form email, or telephone ((202) 225-5816).

Please don't harangue Rep. Newhouse about his wife's illness. Just say your piece about why you oppose GOP efforts to repeal the ACA and replace it with an inferior measure.

What Next?

Donald Trump's Presidency is just entering its second month and we can say unequivocally that things are as bad and worse than we could've imagined. Trump himself has:

• questioned the integrity of the 2016 election results, claiming without evidence that "millions of people voted illegally" (all for Hillary Clinton, of course), which is why he lost the popular vote,
• maligned the judiciary (not for the first time), because the court decided his Muslim Ban was unconstitutional (thank you, Bob Ferguson, WA AG),
• called the Press "an enemy of the American people,"
• reneged on his pledge to release his tax returns after an IRS audit,
• refused to abide by the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, thus ensuring continued conflicts of interest with his far-flung business interests,
• blasted the Intelligence Community over their reports of Russian hacking of the DNC and interference in the 2016 election,
• impugned the integrity of the FBI after imploring them to "knock down" press reports on Trump team contacts with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.

In the meantime, under cover of Mr. Trump's "unpresidented" attack on everything and everyone he disagrees with, Republicans are ramming through Mr. Trump's terrible Cabinet nominees, and pushing through and/or repealing legislation that will change a regulatory landscape shaped by progressive principles.

One of their first moves in laying the groundwork for how they planned to operate, was to emasculate the independent Congressional Ethics Committee. After a public outcry, in which even Mr. Trump weighed in, the House reversed that plan. Instead, they appointed our former WA-4 Representative, Richard "Doc" Hastings to head the committee. We all know how conscientious Doc is on that front.

"Hear no evil" Doc Hastings to head up Ethics

At the top of the GOP's ambitious agenda is wiping out healthcare coverage for millions of Americans. Republicans have fought the Affordable Care Act literally from its inception. It goes against their conservative principle of "Every [rich] man for himself." The problem is, while Republicans bitched and moaned about ACA, aka "Obamacare" for eight years, all they did in that time was pass more than 50 symbolic bills to repeal it, apparently in an effort to make their base feel they were doing something other than obstructing everything President Obama tried to do. Now they have to actually come up with a replacement, and hey, it isn't as easy as they thought when they ridiculed the 2700-pages of legislation that accompanied the bill. "Noboby knew that healthcare could be so complicated," Mr. Trump said Monday. Yeah, actually, they did. More than once.

A draft of the House Republicans' bill to repeal Obamacare would replace its subsidies with less generous tax credits, increase the amount insurers could charge older Americans and effectively eliminate Medicaid for low-income adults. These provisions could leave a significant share of the 20 million people who gained coverage under Obamacare without insurance. It's not all bad, however. Taxes on tanning beds would be repealed under the GOP plan, thus ensuring that Mr. Trump can continue his orangeness without undue expense.

Healthcare isn't the only thing the GOP is working to degrade in order to "Make America Great Again." Frankly, it's hard to keep up with everything Congress is doing, even for Congressional Democrats. Collegiality is not on the GOP agenda, let alone transparency, or compromise. You can try following Congress.gov, but you might be better served by following Whitehouse.Leaks.org, a fictitious site I just made up. But there are a lot of leaks.

Without doubt the government agency at greatest risk today is the Environmental Protection Agency -- an agency created by a Republican president, Richard Nixon. His creation of the EPA was not the reason he resigned in disgrace, but republicans, once serious about "conservation," have more and more come to hate the EPA. In an odd turn of events, republicans appreciation for Vladimir Putin has soared. It may be that republicans see environmentalists as today's communists, and they prefer fascism to communism, thus their support of Trump and by extension, Putin.

The environment is high on the list of GOP targets, and not just the "climate change hoax." Republicans employed the Congressional Review Act to scrap the Stream Protection Rule, designed to limit the dumping of mining waste in local waterways. The rule was put in place by the Department of the Interior in the final days of the Obama administration, tightening standards for contamination of water and restoration of streams damaged by mining operations. Joyful miners in Kentucky were sure to be grateful to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for protecting their well-being.

With the installation of Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the EPA Americans can expect to see a severe degradation of the Agency's authority and capacity for enforcement of existing regulation, let alone new rulemaking.

As Walter Rosebaum has written in a recent edition of The Conversation,

"Environmental organizations can attempt to mobilize public support and pressure Congress to counteract Pruitt-led revisions of EPA’s organization and rule-making. In particular, increased activism at the state level can be a countervailing force to federal environmental retrenchment."

Activism at the local and state levels seems to be a formula for pressing Congress and, perhaps to a lesser degree, the Administration, on a board range of issues, from freedom of the press to freedom of choice. So, get on your hiking boots and get out there!

Call to Action: Affordable Care Act CANCELLED

NOTE, THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED


Alert!
Call to Action

Tell Congressman Dan Newhouse you want health care for all when he tours a facility in Granger tomorrow, Wednesday, January 18th.  Bring signs and dress warm.  It's the Yakima Neighborhood Health Family Medical and Dental Clinic in Granger, 111 Main Street.

Be there from 1 - 2:15pm.   (Newhouse tours from 1:30 to 2)

Congressman Newhouse voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, but has offered no comparable replacement for the millions of Americans now depending on the ACA for access to care. 

For car pooling, meet at the Target parking lot in Queensgate area of Richland close to the front door at noon.  We will take off close to 12 noon so get there early.

Please share this information.

And if you're unable to join us, please call the Congressman's office to relay your support for health care for all.
Congressman Dan Newhouse
TriCities (509) 713-7374
Yakima (509) 452-3243
Washington DC (202) 225-5816